Writer James Frey may havetaken a beating in the literaryworld for his partly fictionalizedmemoir A Million Little Piecesfor which Oprah Winfreyfamously took him to task—buthe’s a growing force on the artscene. Pal Richard Princedesigned the cover for Frey’srecent novel, Bright ShinyMorning, and the author hasboldly commemorated hisOprah humiliation by commissioning a painting, PublicStoning, above, from EdRuscha. What did Ruschamake of the request? “Helaughed and then said‘absolutely,’ ” says Frey. Thepainting is on view this monthin New York—not at the HalfGallery, which Frey owns withdesigner Andy Spade andformer Black Book magazineeditor Bill Powers, but at theFlag Art Foundation, in theshow “Wall Rockets”, for which Frey has writtena catalogue essay. And that’sthe truth.

"A Novel Approach" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.